1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cotton candy making machine for making a light and very sweet candy of threaded sugar generally named as cotton candy, spun candy, or candy floss.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, machines for making cotton candies have been generally known in the world. In addition, there are various types of cotton candy making machines on the market, such as a hand-operating type cotton candy making machine to be used at a temporary store at a festival and an automatically-operated cotton candy vending machine to be provided as a permanent machine at a store. The conventional automatic cotton candy vending machine (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a cotton candy making machine), for example, comprises a means for supplying granular sugar as a raw material, a rotary pot that ejects floss-like threaded sugar therefrom by heating the predetermined amount of the raw material supplied from the sugar-supplying means, and a means for positioning a floss taking-up stick (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a stick) on which floss-like threaded sugar is wound. In general, the rotary pot is coaxially placed on the inside of the basin and their openings are directed upward, so that they are supported and rotated by any devices provided below their backs. In this case, the raw material (i.e., granular sugar) is supplied into the inside of the rotary pot through a chute from above.
In such a configuration of the conventional machine, however, there is a problem that much expense in time and effort is required for maintenance. During a rotary motion of the rotary pot, a part of the raw material melted by heat flies out of the rotary pot and the inner surface of the basin is spoiled by the adhesion of such a material.
Several solutions to this problem have been proposed. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 6-343394 (1991), one such solution is to provide a cotton candy making machine in which a rotary pot is suspended from overhead for supplying a raw material into a rotary pot through a hanging device to prevent the fly-off of the raw material.
FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram for illustrating a general configuration of the cotton candy making machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 6-343394 (1991). In the figure, the reference numeral 151 denotes a rotary pot with an internal heater, 152 denotes a support tube that supports and allows a rotary motion of the rotary pot 151, 153 denotes a driving motor for rotating the rotary pot 151 together with the support tube 152, 154 denotes a sugar storage tank that stores a raw material (i.e., granular sugar) to be fed to the rotary pot 151, and 155 denotes a chute that is provided as a feed channel between the sugar storage tank 154 and the support tube 152, 156 denotes a basin that surrounds the rotary pot 151, 160 denotes a container for reserving and supplying sticks 161 to be used for taking up floss-like threaded sugar to be provided as a cotton candy, 162 denotes a holder having a chuck 163 for holding a floss taking-up stick 161, and 170 denotes a bag container that reserves bags 171 for packaging the resulting cotton candy.
Now, we will describe the working of the conventional cotton candy making machine constructed as above in detail.
At first, the cotton candy making machine is brought into operation when a control unit (not shown) receives an operator""s instruction through a switch panel or the like (not shown). That is, the instruction permits the commencement of the process for making cotton candy. Then, the control means allows that a predetermined amount of sugar is supplied to the rotary pot 151 from the sugar storage tank 154 through the chute 155 and the support tube 152. The granular sugar is heated by the internal heater (not shown) in the rotary pot 151 to release floss-like threaded sugar from a plurality of pores formed on the peripheral surface of the rotary pot 151. On the other hand, the basin 156 and the rotary pot 151 are concentrically positioned and constructed so that they rotate together.
Then, one of the sticks is forced out of the stick storage tank 160 by a supplying device (not shown) and held by the chuck 163 provided on the lower end of the stick holder 162. The chuck 163 is able to turn 90xc2x0 from the rightward direction to the downward direction. The stick holder 162 is able to shift its position in the vertical and horizontal directions.
A moving device 164 moves the stick 161 from the stick storage tank 160 to a predetermined position where the stick 161 is rotated by a rotary motion of the stick holder 160 for winding the floss-like threaded sugar onto the stick 161.
If a cotton candy is formed by taking up the predetermined amount of floss-like threaded sugar on the stick 161, the stick 161 is further moved downward. On that occasion, a bag is pulled out of the bag storage tank 170 on a one-by-one basis for packing the cotton candy in the bag.
As the cotton candy making machine disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 6-343394 (1994) is constructed as described above, it is possible to prevent the undesired release of sugar from the rotary pot to the outside when the granular sugar is supplied into the rotary pot 151.
In spite of such an advantage, the conventional cotton candy making machine described above has the following problems to be solved.
First, there is the problem in a maintainability of the cotton candy making machine. That is, floss-like threaded sugar released from the rotary pot may adhere on the internal wall of the basin or the like when it is not wound onto the stick. Therefore, the cleaning of the internal wall of the basin or the like takes a great deal of time after running the cotton candy making machine each time.
Second, there is the problem in the shape of a resulting cotton candy. In the conventional cotton candy making machine, as shown in FIG. 28, floss-like threaded sugar is released from the rotary pot 151 and concurrently a blast of hot air (indicated by the arrow C in the figure) blows in the direction of the radius of the rotary pot 151. In this case, however, the stick 161 is placed in parallel to a peripheral surface (or a rotation axis) of the rotary pot 151, so that the shape of the growing cotton candy twirling round the stick may be affected by the blowing hot air. In other words, there are two different portions on the cotton candy 100. That is, one portion of the cotton candy 100 is deformed by receiving a current of the blowing hot air C and the other portion is freed from the flow of hot air C. As a consequence, the blast of hot air C makes an irregularly shaped surface of the cotton candy 100.
Third, there is the problem in the safety of a resulting cotton candy product, especially the safety of a floss taking-up stick. Conventionally, the floss-taking up stick is provided as a hard stick made of wood or plastic material. In Japan, there was an accident that took the life of a little boy by such a wooden stick. The stick reached to his brain stem when he fell down on the ground. Therefore, there is a need to improve a material or a structure of the stick for providing a cotton candy product with complete safety.
The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing problems. It is therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a cotton candy making machine that allows the production of a cotton candy in a preferable shape.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cotton candy making machine that can be easily kept in proper condition. Especially, a basin of the cotton candy making machine can be kept from being spoiled.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cotton candy making machine that allows a cotton candy product to be eaten with complete safety.
Here, a cotton candy making machine of the present invention, comprises: a rotary pot having a rotation axis associated with a driving means, where a heater is included to heat sugar provided as a raw material and to release the heated sugar in the form of floss-like threaded sugar from the rotary pot to the outside by rotating the rotary-pot around the rotation axis by a rotary motion of the driving means; a basin to be rotated together with the rotary pot, in which the rotary pot is concentrically arranged; a raw material supplying means for supplying the sugar into the rotary pot; and a floss taking-up means that rotates around its rotation axis in a predetermined direction to take up floss-like threaded sugar released from the rotary pot, wherein the rotation axis of the rotary pot and the rotation axis of the floss taking-up means form an intersection with each other at a predetermined angle.
The floss taking-up means may comprise: a floss taking-up stick made of paper onto which floss-like threaded sugar released from the rotary pot is wound; and a stick holding means for holding the stick, which is able to rotate around an axis thereof for twirling the floss-like threaded sugar onto the stick.
The floss taking-up means may comprise: a floss taking-up stick onto which floss-like threaded sugar released from the rotary pot is wound; and at least one leaf spring provided around a peripheral surface of the stick, and the machine may further comprise: a cotton candy detaching means for taking the floss-like threaded sugar out of the stick; and a container-supplying means for supplying a predetermined container in which the detached floss-like threaded sugar to provided it as a cotton candy.
The cotton candy detaching means may comprise: an extruding means having an opening through which a floss taking-up stick is passed, where the extruding means is able to move in the direction along a rotation axis of the floss taking-up stick, and the leaf spring is pressed toward the rotation axis of the floss taking-up stick by the opening of the extruding means as the extruding means is moved.
The cotton candy making machine may further comprise a plurality of cotton candy supporting plates which are arranged on the tip of the floss taking-up stick so as to be radially opened in the direction of the radius of the floss taking-up stick, where the cotton candy, supporting plates are radially opened in the radial direction when the extruding means is positioned on the side of the rear end of the floss taking-up stick, while the cotton candy supporting plates are converged as the extruding means moves to the tip of the floss taking-up stick.
The cotton candy making machine may further comprise: a sheet of removable soil-preventing paper that covers both the bottom and the inner peripheral surface of the basin; and a fixing means for holding down the soil-preventing paper on the basin.
The basin may be at least constructed of: a framework; a sheet of removable soil-preventing paper to be provided as at least an inner peripheral surface of the basin; and a fixing means for fixing the soil-preventing paper on the framework.
The raw material supplying means may be constructed of a plurality of hoppers communicated with the rotary pot through metering distributors.
Alternatively, the stick provided as a floss taking-up means may be constructed as a raw material supplying means in which a predetermined amount of sugar is contained, and thus the cotton candy making machine may further comprise a means for charging the sugar into the rotary pot by opening one end of the sugar-containing stick.
The above and other objects, effects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.